Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a probe position inspection apparatus, a semiconductor device inspection apparatus, and a semiconductor device inspection method.
Description of the Background Art
A semiconductor device inspection apparatus has been known which makes an evaluation of electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device that is an object to be measured by bringing the tips of probes into contact with the semiconductor device. The term “semiconductor device” used herein refers to a semiconductor wafer or a chip obtained by dicing of a semiconductor wafer. For inspection, the semiconductor device is fixed on the surface of a chuck stage by vacuum suction and the like. Then, the probes for electrical input and output come from above into contact with an electrode of the semiconductor device.
In the inspection of a semiconductor device having a vertical structure in which large current is passed in a vertical direction of the semiconductor device, that is, from one main surface of the semiconductor device to the other main surface thereof, the surface of the chuck stage serves as an electrode. The higher pin counts of the probes have hitherto been achieved to meet the requirement for the application of large current and high voltage.
During the evaluation of the electrical characteristics of the semiconductor device that is an object to be measured, it is important to bring a plurality of probes into contact with an electrode provided on the surface of the semiconductor device with high accuracy. When a misalignment of the contact portions of the probes coming into contact with the electrode occurs, there are cases in which desired current or voltage is not applied to the semiconductor device. In addition, there can be cases in which the contact of the contact portions of the probes with other than the electrode results in the destruction of the semiconductor device. To suppress the misalignment of the contact portions of the probes, it is desirable that the probes have a short length. However, there is a tendency to increase the length of the probes to thereby increase the distance between the main body portion of a probe card and the semiconductor device for the purpose of suppressing a discharge phenomenon. Thus, the misalignment of the contact portions of the probes is prone to occur.
Under these circumstances, a non-contact type technique has been known as a probe position measuring method. An example of the non-contact type probe position measuring technique includes image processing measurement by means of a camera provided in opposed relation to probes. It is, however, difficult for this image processing measurement to carry out accurate measurements because of the presence of disturbance factors such as the background, distance, individual focusing and the influence of deposits during the position measurements of the tips of the probes.
Another evaluation method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-189353 in which probes are brought into contact with a deformable body and thereafter separated from the deformable body, and the position and size of probe marks are observed. Also, the elimination of probe marks in a probe mark transfer member is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-198407. An inspection with measurement probes held against a transparent flat plate made of glass is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-157790 (1993).
However, the evaluation method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-189353 presents problems in requiring the regeneration process of the deformable body each time the probe inspection is made and in requiring time for the inspection because the observation is made after transfer. Also, the apparatus and method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-189353 cannot be easily added to a conventional evaluation apparatus.
The probe mark transfer member disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-198407 is described as recovered in a short time, but requires the regeneration process as well to present a problem in requiring time for the inspection because the observation is made after the transfer. The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-157790 (1993) presents a problem such that the inspection accuracy is lowered because of disturbances such as illumination and background.